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Stanford S. Strickland
Gerald StricklandBack to the Future: The Game - Episode 1: It's About Time was a strict authoritarian with a strong disdain for slackers (particularly those of the McFly family). In this respect he took after his great-grandfather Chief Marshal James Strickland of Hill Valley 1885, who was constantly at odds with local outlaw Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen. He had a sister, Edna Strickland, who served as a columnist for the Hill Valley Herald. Biography Mr. Strickland is known to have served in the United States Army in the 1940's, and at that time, he had used the term "slacker"."Marty McFly PFC" Strickland worked at Hill Valley High School in both 1955 and 1985. He believed that Doc Brown was a "nutcase" and did not want his students hanging around with Doc - this suggests that Strickland and Doc may have met in the past, or else Strickland just thought that Doc is a nutcase. In 1985, he caught Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker sneaking into school late. After finding out this was because Marty was at Doc's house, he warned Marty not to hang around with Doc before noting that Marty's band, The Pinheads, were auditioning for the dance that evening. Strickland informed Marty not to waste his time telling him that "no McFly has ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley". In 1955, Strickland was just the same as he was in 1985 - except with slightly more hair. On November 7 of that year, he was lecturing young George McFly, demanding "Do you want to be a slacker for the rest of your life?" Later that day, as Biff and Marty prepared to fight in the lunchroom, he walked over and, without saying a word, stopped the altercation. Strickland was about to interrogate the "new student" (Marty, who may or may not have been enrolled by Doc Brown), but the sudden appearance of a paper airplane caused Strickland to march off in the direction of another slacker. Strickland was chaperone at the "Enchantment Under The Sea" dance, where he was not impressed with "Calvin Klein's" (in reality, Marty's) music. In the alternate 1985, Marty was mistakenly identified as the person responsible for stealing Strickland’s newspapers (although correctly identified as a slacker, a judgment reinforced by Marty’s own admission) and threatened with castration by a shotgun. Strickland in this reality wore a bulletproof vest and had a scar on his face. Fortunately, at least for Marty, Strickland was promptly engaged in a firefight with a gang of gun-toting slackers, during which Marty made his escape towards downtown. When Doc and Marty returned to 1955 to restore history by taking the Grays Sports Almanac away from Biff Tannen, Strickland confiscated what Marty believed to be the almanac from Biff (but in reality was a pornographic magazine entitled Oh La La, but pronounced by Marty "Ooh La La") and labeled Biff a slacker. Shortly after, Strickland unknowingly trapped the hand of his future adversary Marty McFly between his chair and desk as Marty attempted to re-acquire the almanac. Strickland threw the magazine in the trash, and soon afterwards Marty discovered that it was not the almanac, and the chase was on again. By 1991 - 1992, Strickland was the Dean of Hill Valley College.Back to the Future: The Animated Series Behind the scenes *In a scene deleted from the movie, Strickland found George McFly trapped in a phone booth by bullies. Instead of letting him out, he called George a "slacker" and left him inside. *His first name had been unclear for some time. The novel for the first film refers to him as "Gerald", but his office door in Part II says "S S Strickland". The initials might refer to his title; such as a student supervisor. It is unclear whether the school superintendent, who would administer all of the district's schools, would be part of his duties. His full name was confirmed in the first episode of Back to the Future: The Game. *In the Back to the Future novelization, Strickland starts quizzing the new student, who claims that his name is "Marty Brown". The book also describes events in 1985, where Strickland has Marty in detention. While his Walkman is being crushed in a vise, Marty sets off a fire alarm through a complicated series of events, getting away to go to the Battle of the Bands. The 1985 scene was filmed with Eric Stoltz, but not with Michael J. Fox. Like the "Marty Brown" scene, it does not appear in the film. *A fan theory suggests that Strickland asked the judges to fail the Pinheads due to Marty's "attitude problem", although there is no mention of this in the scripts or movies. Appearances *''Back to the Future'' *''Back to the Future Part II'' *''Back to the Future: The Animated Series'' **"Marty McFly PFC" *''Back to the Future: The Game'' **''It's About Time'' Notes and references Strickland, Gerald Strickland, Gerald Strickland, Gerald